The Kremlin have issued a chilling warning on Thursday morning that they “guarantee” should Ukraine join NATO then this “will lead to World War Three.”

A senior NATO official has warned Russia that if there is any use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine there will be a “physical response.”

At the end of September the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky applied for a fast track membership of NATO.

The Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Alexander Venediktov, told the state TASS news agency in an interview on Thursday morning, “Kyiv is well aware that such a step would mean a guaranteed escalation to a World War Three.

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“Apparently, that’s what they are counting on – to create informational noise and draw attention to themselves once again.”

Venediktov added that Russia’s position that the West helping Ukraine with heavy weaponry, indicates that “they are a direct party to the conflict.”

On Wednesday before the meeting of NATO’s nuclear planning group an official said there will be “unprecedented consequences” should Moscow launch any nuclear weapon.

Speaking on condition of anonymity the official added that should Russia use any type of nuclear weapons this would “almost certainly be drawing a physical response from many allies, and potentially from NATO itself.”

Professor Michael Clarke, former director-general of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), has said that NATO members have contacted their counterparts in Moscow giving them a stern warning of using nuclear weapons.

Sky News asked Professor Clarke what reaction would the West give in response to a nuclear strike by Russia, he said, “When the tactical nuclear weapon threats were raised a few weeks ago, the US and three or four NATO members personally contacted their counterparts in Russia and in the Russian general staff to say ‘don’t even think about it’.

“They won’t tell us what they said and nor should they because there has got to be some uncertainty about this in order to maintain a deterrent but what they seem to have said is first of all ‘we will not be passive’.

“‘We won’t just condemn you, we will do a lot about it. Second, we won’t go nuclear but we will go conventional and we have the conventional power to hit all of your nuclear infrastructure and facilities.

“If we even think that you’re going nuclear, if we see the preparations start – we might attack you’.

“That seems to have been the message.”